Kira (given name)

Look up Kira or kira in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Kira is a female given name of ancient origin and multiple etymological derivations.

The girl's name Kira is pronounced /ˈkɪərə/ KEER-ə. It might be a female form of the name Kiran, pronounced /ˈkɪərən/ KEER-ən. Kiran is of Hindi and Sanskrit origin, meaning "beam of light". Besides Sanskrit, there might be other etymologies from Egyptian, where the word Ki-Ra means "like Ra", or Persian.^[1][2] Due to the Greek interpretation of the Persian king's name Kourosh (کوروش, Kūrosh) as Κύρος (Kýros) – which was obviously modeled after the Greek word κύριος (kýrios "lord"), the female form being κυρία (kyría) – Kyra (or Kira) can also be understood as a variant of this originally Persian name of uncertain signification.^[3] Therefore it is also in use as a female form of the Greek diminutive form Cyril. Cyrus was the name of several kings of Persia, including Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon. He is famous in the Old Testament for freeing the captive Jews and allowing them to return to Israel.^[4]

In Russian Kira (Ки́ра) is the feminine form of the male name Kir, meaning "mistress, ruler", but can translate to "leader of the people", "one the people look to" or "beloved".^[5] Kira could also have arrived into Russian from the Persian-Greek name Kyra.

Kira is one of several Anglicized forms of the Celtic name Ciara, which in Gaelic means "dark".^[6]

There is also a Japanese name, romanized as Kira, which is common in Japan, as both given name and family name. Kira kira also means "glittery, shiny" in Japanese. ^[7]

Finally, "Kira" is a diminutive of the old and rare male given name Avvakir.^[8]

Variant forms include Kaira, Keera, Keira, Kiera, Kyra, Kyrah, Kyreena, Kyrha, Kyria, Kyrie, Kyrene, Kyrra and Kirra.^[9]

People with this name

Women with this name

• Kira Bulten (born 1973), Dutch Olympic swimmer
• Kira Clavell, Canadian actress
• Kira Cochrane (born 1977), British journalist
• Kira Davis, American film producer
• Kira Hall, American anthropologist
• Kira Hurley (born 1986), Canadian professional ice hockey player
• Kira Inugami, Japanese manga artist
• Kira Ivanova (born 1963), Russian figure skater
• Kira Kener (born 1974), American pornographic actress
• Kira Kosarin, American Actress
• Kira Miró (born 1980), Spanish actress and a presenter
• Kira Muratova (born 1934), Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, and actress
• Kira O'Reilly, British performance artist
• Kira Plastinina (born 1992), Russian fashion designer
• Kira Poutanen (born 1974), Finnish writer and actress
• Kira Reed (born 1971), American actress
• Kira Roessler (born 1961), American musician
• Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (1909-1967)
• Princess Kira of Prussia (1943 - 2004)
• Kira Salak (born 1971), American writer
• Kira Skov (born 1976), Danish singer
• Kira Soltanovich (born 1973), Ukrainian comedian
• Kira Vincent-Davis (born 1979), American voice actress
• Kira Willey, American musician
• Kira Zvorykina (1919–2014), Soviet and Ukrainian chess player

Pseudonyms

• Kira (German singer) (born 1978), stage name of Janine Scholz
• Kira (Belgian singer) (born 1977), stage name of Natasja de Witte
• The name given to the person who uploaded the pictures in the Edison Chen photo scandal

Men with this name

• Kira Chikazane (1563–1588), Japanese retainer
• Kira Yoshinaka (1641–1703), Japanese master of ceremonies

Fictional characters

• Kira Nerys, one of the main characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Kira is her family name)
• Kira Argounova, the protagonist in Ayn Rand's We the Living
• Kira Finster in animated Nickelodeon TV series Rugrats and All Grown Up!
• Kira Ford (aka Yellow Dino Ranger) in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder
• Kira (Gelfling) in the film The Dark Crystal
• Kira Sakuratsuki in the anime Futakoi
• Kira Yamato in the TV anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
• Kira Yoshikage in the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
• Kira, the main character of the book Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
• Kira, daughter of Sarah Manning in the television series Orphan Black
• Kira, the alias of protagonist Light Yagami in Death Note
• Kyra Hart in the TV show Reba, played by Scarlett Pomers
• Kyra in the movie The Chronicles of Riddick
• Kira the Seer in the Charmed television series universe
• Kira in Xanadu, played by Olivia Newton-John
• Izuru Kira, a soul reaper in the anime Bleach
• Kira (Mortal Kombat)
• Kira (Iggy Arbuckle), a rat in the animated series Iggy Arbuckle
• Sakuya Kira in the manga and anime Angel Sanctuary
• Kira Sumeragi in the anime Uta no Prince-Sama
• Kira Yukimura in Teen Wolf (2011 TV series)
• Kira Carsen in Star Wars: The Old Republic^[10]
• Kira in Zack & Quack, an animated series on Nick Jr.

See also

• Keira (given name)
• Kiera
• Kiran

References